Gun-Control Double Standard for Political Class and American People?

While Vice President Joe Biden has been conducting a week of meetings on efforts to curb gun violence that seemed to be focused on nothing but more gun control, President Obama signed a law Thursday that ensures lifetime protection for himself and his family, as well as the safety of future presidents.

The legislation signed by the president was written by Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina. According to the press secretary’s office, the law “restores lifetime Secret Service protection of former Presidents who did not serve as President prior to January 1, 1997, and their spouses; and provides for protection of all children of former Presidents until they become 16 years of age.”

The “Former Presidents Protection Act of 2012” makes changes to a law written in the mid-1990s that imposes a 10-year limit on Secret Service protection for former presidents. President George W. Bush is the first former president affected.

When the original law was written, lawmakers defended it by saying it would save the government millions of dollars, and argued that former presidents retained the option to hire private security firms, like Richard Nixon did after he opted out of Secret Service protection in 1985.

The “Former Presidents Protection Act” passed in both the House and the Senate with ease.

But some analysts view the law as a flagrant example of the double standard the political elite maintains for itself and the average American citizen.

Before It's Newsopines of the legislation: “Armed protection for me, but not for thee!”

President Obama so much as admitted to that philosophy following his re-election. While giving an interview on ABC Nightline on December 26 following the Sandy Hook shooting, he admitted that one of the benefits of his re-election was the ability to “have men with guns around at all times.” Unfortunately, it seems he does not believe that the American people should be afforded a similar benefit.

While the president was signing a law protecting himself and his family for the entirety of his life, his administration has been launching a gun control agenda that many feel may threaten to prevent the American people from doing the same.

Vice President Biden’s task force sat down with the National Rifle Association as well as other gun-owner groups to allegedly discuss a range of issues addressing gun violence. According to the NRA, however, the group is “disappointed [with] how much it had to do with an agenda to attack the Second Amendment.”

Those members of the NRA who sat in on the meetings assert that the focus was virtually on “proposed restrictions on lawful firearm owners — honest, taxpaying, hardworking Americans.”

Vice President Biden ended the week of meetings by meeting representatives from the video-game industry, which some have targeted as promoting too much violence and encouraging violence among adolescents.

Biden states he plans to provide several proposals based on his meetings to the president by next Tuesday. Fox News reports, “He gave a glimpse into what was being considered this week, and the list included ‘universal’ background checks for gun purchases. He said this would include not just closing the so-called gun show loophole but imposing background checks for all transactions, including private sales.

Biden also added, “I’ve never heard quite as much about the need to do something about high-capacity magazines as I’ve heard spontaneously from every group that we’ve met with so far.”

President Obama and other anti-gun lawmakers have articulated support for an assault-weapons ban. They have also dismissed proposals to install armed officers at every school in the nation. According to the White House, such a strategy is not effective.

It’s worth noting, however, that the school at which President Obama’s daughters attend has 11 armed security guards at all times. It’s almost as if the president believes that he and his family should be afforded greater protection than all the rest of the American people.

The hypocrisy behind the gun control agenda is not only evident with President Obama. California Senator Dianne Feinstein has been virtually leading the charge against the Second Amendment and has drafted a bill to be introduced later this month that treats gun owners as criminals, while she herself has admitted to carrying a concealed weapon for her own protection after she had been threatened by a terrorist group.

Likewise, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also aggressively pushed an anti-gun agenda while he himself is protected constantly by armed bodyguards. The same is true of left-wing documentarian Michael Moore.

And the Obama administration has been outspoken about its willingness to circumvent Congress in its drive to increase gun control if Congress is not compliant.

"There are executive orders, executive action that can be taken," Biden said. He also said separate legislative action would be "required."

Second Amendment advocates have spoken out against indications the president may resort to executive order.

"Vice President Biden would do well to read the 2nd Amendment and revisit the meaning of the phrase 'shall not be infringed,'" Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said in a statement. "Bypassing Congress to implement radical policies is never acceptable."

Meanwhile, gun advocates are working vehemently to enforce a standard that is applicable to both the political elite as well as the American people. Last month, a White House petition began to be circulated that called for making the White House and all federal buildings gun free zones. It also states that the gun-free zones should be applied to private schools such as the Sidwell Friends School “attended by the president’s daughters.”

The petition reads, “If the government believes gun free zones are a solution for citizens, the same standard should apply to government servants and employees.”

That petition currently has over 12,000 signatures, but needs as many more to reach the required 25,000 that would require White House staff to review it and issue an official response.

Photo of President Barack Obama flanked by Secret Service agents: AP Images

Please review our Comment Policy before posting a comment

Thank you for joining the discussion at The New American. We value our readers and encourage their participation, but in order to ensure a positive experience for our readership, we have a few guidelines for commenting on articles. If your post does not follow our policy, it will be deleted.

No profanity, racial slurs, direct threats, or threatening language.

No product advertisements.

Please post comments in English.

Please keep your comments on topic with the article. If you wish to comment on another subject, you may search for a relevant article and join or start a discussion there.

Comments that we consider abusive, spammy, off-topic, or harassing will be removed.

If our filtering system detects that you may have violated our policy, your comment will be placed in a queue for moderation. It will then be either approved or deleted. Once your comment is approved, it will then be viewable on the discussion thread.

If you need to report a comment, please flag it and it will be reviewed. Thank you again for being a valued reader of The New American.